PART 3: First Nightly Stopover Beside The Fairy Land ‘NARAN’

Jheel Saif Ul Malook

It’s always tough to bring beauty into words, still expressing my best. After having lovely breakfast in Kunhar river we packed our luggage back into the trunk. Almost after 8 hours from Islamabad we were in Naran Bazar. Without wasting time we took stove and things to make tea from car and rent a jeep for Jheel Saif Ul Malook. After some quarrel the jeep was hired for Rs.2500. One of most treacherous roads I have experienced was from Naran Bazar to Jheel Saif ul Malook. There are two main well known hazardous jeep tracks in the way to china boarder from Islamabad where true skills of 4*4 jeeps can be experienced. One is Raikot to Fairy Medows and the other is to Jheel Saif Ul Malook from Naran Bazar. Traitorous great altitude, uneven narrow mountain roads and local driving techniques will makes you sit pretty attentive. On left hand the mountains and the other side the straight steep slopes will make the blood pump hard. The drivers know where to keep the speed and where to stop to give way to the approaching jeeps from another side. It’s a true talent gain from their experience. 

After 45 minutes of bumpy road when we reached an altitude of 3,224 meters and 10,578 feet above sea level and saw the blue sparkler clear and freezing water in a bowl shape lake, fenced by massive glaciers it took away our all travelling wooziness and it appeared all worthy. The spellbinding view of clouds touching the mountains and cold breeze along fog crossing us is magical experience. We had to hike around 5 minutes down from jeep stop to lake where we can find small stalls of food items. 
I do recommend you to experience egg Pakoras and a cup of tea with it. We sat there for hour and enjoyed the mesmerising view. we came across a person who told us the very famous story of that place. As the story was love triangle between prince of Egypt Saif-ul-Malook, the gorgeous fairy known as Badi-ul-Jamaal and the Safaid Diyo (white giant). There is a lake around hour tracking from jheel Saiful Malook known as Ansu jheel which is said to be created out by the tears of white giant in loss of fairy. Rent of horse was Rs.500 per horse and the guide was hired for Rs.500. We planned to camp in Jheel Saif Ul Malook but due to security we were not allowed to camp around. We came back to Naran Bazar and visited local shops there. 

The Next Morning at Kunhar River

After some time we camped near Kunhar river and cooked food by our self. Played cards at night and enjoyed the lovely dinner with friends. We tie a shopper of mangoes and dip it in Cold Kunhar River and in no time the mangoes were chilled and tasted delicious. We slept in camp with the peaceful sound of river.